(May 29, 1953 – January 3, 2024)
Editor’s note: To celebrate the career of Rolfing® Instructor, Larry Koliha, we have a collection of writings from those who knew him well: Bethany Ward, Kevin McCoy, Brett Linder, Neal Anderson, and Russell Stolzoff. We extend our deepest condolences to Bethany Ward, Larry’s wife, his children, and all his friends and family.
By Bethany Ward, Certified Advanced Rolfer®, Rolf Movement® Practitioner, Rolfing® Instructor
“Let your breath go. Let your heart rest toward the table.” [Larry pulls leg.] “There! Let your breath go from behind your heart.” [Pulls some more.] “Can you feel it still holding there? That’s some of it . . . but there’s still more. It’s like you’re a Twinkie and you’re just letting me have the outer cakey layer but not the cream filling. Now let me have the cream filling. That’s it! Feel that? What happened to your breath?”
Gently resting his hands on your body, Larry Koliha had an uncanny ability to feel through your system and sense subtle holdings. He was famous for quirky, metaphorical cues that bypassed overthinking and pulled clients into felt experience. Larry was the best practitioner I ever saw when it came to helping clients sense breathing patterns and their whole-body impacts.
I was married to Larry and I can say that he was as gifted in his personal life as he was with his craft. I was asked to share about his life and career.
Background
Larry came to Rolfing® Structural Integration in a circuitous route. Born in Columbus, Nebraska, in 1953, Larry’s family moved to Fort Collins, Colorado, when he was eight. He started working at Woodward Governor (now Woodward, Inc.), a company that provides control systems for large engines and industrial equipment. At fourteen, Larry worked on Woodward’s grounds crew, which fostered a life-long appreciation for working outside and growing things. After high school, Larry joined the army. He was stationed in Amberg, Germany, from 1971 to 1974 and held a variety of positions, including tank gunner, driver, and tank commander. He was also a drill sergeant, which never ceases to astonish those who appreciated his warm, easy-going nature. After the army, Larry returned to Woodward where he worked in a variety of departments and eventually became a mechanical manufacturing engineer.
Family was everything to Larry. Although two marriages ended in divorce, he kept good relationships with his past partners and focused his energy on raising his children in Fort Collins, Colorado, with a large extended family of aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews. Working long hours as an engineer and raising three spirited young girls, Larry turned to running as an important form of physical and emotional self-care. His experience running marathons and half-marathons later informed his beliefs about listening to the body rather than simply forcing it to perform.
Larry was interested in alternative healing, but it wasn’t until he attended a health fair that he experienced Rolfing Structural Integration. After a fifteen-minute sample of the work, he noticed a substantial change in his body. This positive experience stuck with him.
Around that time, Larry’s company initiated budget cuts and planned to trim its workforce. Always good with numbers, Larry was charged with conducting a major cost analysis to determine which employees should be offered retirement packages. Larry had been working for the company for three decades and was ready for a second career so, as he wrapped up the project, he convinced his superiors to save one of the packages for him.
Larry hadn’t forgotten his experience at the health fair and set his sights on Rolfing training. He spent the summer taking anatomy classes. He shared fond memories of taking his girls to a lake or park and studying anatomy while they played. While he excelled as an engineer, he felt his second career as a Rolfer was one of the best decisions he ever made.
A Second Career
Larry attended the then Rolf Institute® (now the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute®, DIRI) and graduated in 1999. His maturity, curiosity, work ethic, and unassuming nature quickly made him a sought-after practitioner. But these qualities also made him an exceptional teacher. Shortly after graduating, Larry assisted basic classes at the DIRI and eventually taught Skillful Touch in Phase I.
At the time, one of his Rolfing instructors, Til Luchau, asked Larry to assist him with a class. Til recently shared with me, “I remember inviting Larry to assist me in a class I was teaching, as his talent, sensitivity, and quiet gravitas were already obvious.” After the class, Til recalled Larry looking at him and saying, “You’ve got something here, and if you want to go for it, I’ll help.” Larry and Til worked together for many years, teaching material that would eventually develop into Advanced Myofascial Techniques workshops for Til’s company, Advanced-Trainings.com. They remained cherished friends and colleagues. Larry attributed much of his ability as an instructor to his early work teaching and developing continuing education classes with Til.
Relocating
Larry completed his Advanced Training in 2005 with Advanced Rolfing Instructors, Jan Sultan and Tessy Brungardt. I was in the same class and this is when I started to get to know Larry. I remember him as quiet, grounded, and confident. It was a wonderful class that strongly influenced us both.
In 2006, Larry was teaching Skillful Touch and I was assisting a Phase II with Rolfing Instructor Libby Eason. Larry and I had been friendly in our Advanced Training, but this was when we became friends. We started grabbing a meal at the end of the day and hanging out together – and we never stopped.
Eventually, we shared with Til that we were seeing each other, and he surprised us by giving Larry more continuing education workshops on the East Coast, to be closer to me. I started teaching with Larry, and every six weeks or so, we’d teach workshops in places like Delaware or Pennsylvania, and then he’d stay an extra week in Durham, North Carolina, where I lived. Soon, Larry found an office he could rent by the day and started seeing my overflow clients when he was in town.
When Larry moved to Durham in 2008, he had a full practice. Larry was just that good. He had business cards and t-shirts printed that read, “The bodywork that makes the body work.” He brought that vitality and so much more to those lucky enough to work with him.
Larry the Bodyworker
Larry was a big guy with a big heart and big hands. All worked together when he wrapped his mitts around your leg and felt through your system. Larry learned Reiki before becoming a Rolfer but didn’t practice it. But his ability to sense and work energetically was palpable. Larry worked with the full spectrum of touch, not hesitating to challenge the system with deep connection and weight. But he could work just as lightly, too. He was always tuned into the energetic body no matter the intensity of his contact.
Larry often said that, in his sessions, he basically taught people how to breathe and how to walk, and that the rest of it tended to take care of itself. His first session gave no short shift to breath. He could feel where people were holding and he used his unconventional cues to help them access new ways of living in their bodies. Perhaps it was his keen interest in breath that led to a career-long fascination with rib work.
Larry the Instructor
Larry’s presentations also incorporated a love of imagery and metaphor. With scant words and numerous images, Larry’s PowerPoint presentations would combine humor, contrast, and creative analogies that captivated and delighted audiences. He’d start a rib lecture with images of barbeque and tell you about his love of cooking and how he fit right in down South, “where it was agreed that pork was a vegetable.” He’d include his own photography of ocean waves (he adored the beach), flowers from his garden, shadows, and shells – sharing his discovery of Rolfing themes throughout nature. When working with the jaw, he’d suggest to you, “let your tongue relax in your mouth, like a fat boy in a hammock.” Larry’s love of life and disarming personality made it easy to be engaged.
In addition to his imaginative cuing, Larry was also known for his creative positional strategies. Those curious to see Larry in action can watch his DIRI webinar, “Positional Strategies Using Gravity with Larry Koliha” at https://vimeo.com/471156162.
Larry became a lead instructor at DIRI in 2011 after over a decade of teaching with them and Advanced-Trainings.com. People loved his generous spirit. He worked like an artist but planned his classes and teaching materials like an engineer.
In addition to the time he spent teaching students, he was an extremely active member of the DIRI Faculty. Larry donated countless hours as a member of the DIRI Board of Directors, Basic Faculty Department, Ten-Series Committee, Faculty Contract Committee, and the newly-formed US Regional Faculty Oversight Committee. Larry continued to serve until just before his passing.
Conclusion
When the time came, Larry wasn’t ready to leave us. He loved Rolfing work and had no intention of retiring. Slowing down as needed – he’d consider. But he couldn’t imagine stopping because he loved working with clients and teaching. He simply adored his family and looked forward to spending more time with his daughters and watching his grandchildren grow up. He loved our life together in North Carolina and looked forward to more beach trips and seasons in our garden.
Larry enjoyed life as much as anyone I’ve ever met. It was an honor and a pleasure to make a life together. As I’ve heard from so many of his students and colleagues, he affected people. Even those who may only have worked with him for a session or learned from him for a weekend, they write to me with their memories. As one of his clients wrote recently about Larry’s passing: “It seems on the one hand unimaginably sad, but on the other preternaturally lucky to have had time together at all. . . .”
Bethany Ward, MBA, is both a Rolfing Instructor and a Rolf Movement Instructor. She is a past president of the Ida P. Rolf Research Foundation and was involved in the early stages of the International Fascia Research Congress and Fascia Research Society. Combining degrees in psychology and business with over two decades of Rolfing experience, Ward brings a fresh perspective to somatic education. She teaches internationally and has a full-time practice based in Durham, North Carolina.
By Kevin McCoy, PT, Certified Advanced Rolfer, Rolf Movement Practitioner, Rolfing Instructor
Larry’s dedication, passion, and spirit was a gift to our community, our faculty, and our mission as an organization. Larry was tireless in his contributions to his students, his fellow faculty members, and to me personally. He walked through life with an infectious smile and a lightness of being. I cherish my time teaching with Larry and walking along his side on the path we shared. Godspeed, my friend.
Kevin McCoy is a Rolfing Structural Integration Instructor with the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute® (DIRI). He has studied with all six of Dr. Ida Rolf’s original faculty members. He is also a licensed physical therapist and was employed by the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, where he provided Rolfing sessions to individuals in a chronic pain program. McCoy previously served as the chair of the DIRI Board of Directors for five years.
By Brett Thomson Linder, Certified Advanced Rolfer, Rolf Movement® Practitioner, Rolfing® Instructor
I first met Larry Koliha many years ago in Nosara, Costa Rica, during a continuing education retreat. Larry introduced himself as a “rib man.” He had a quiet and fun way about him. Not to imply he was quiet. Quite the opposite. Larry was poised and possessed a calming eleven o’clock DJ voice. He was very calculated when he spoke. If Larry agreed with you, he would say, “That’s exactly right.” It’s hard to believe Larry is off to the great unknown. I miss his distinct laugh with an ear-to-ear smile that was contagious. I miss my friend.
Brett Thomson Linder is a Rolfing Instructor with the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute, a Certified Advanced Rolfer, Rolf Movement Practitioner, and a Licensed Massage Therapist. He has multiple practices that include his private practice as well as working at Alpine Urgent Care and Sports Medicine, and Studio One Pilates.
By Neal Anderson, Certified Advanced Rolfer, Rolf Movement Practitioner, Rolfing Instructor
“Sure, I’ll help!” After seeing his infectious smile and hearing his generous laugh, these words come to mind when I think of Larry: “Sure, I’ll help!”
Being on the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute® (DIRI) faculty involves a lot of work and meetings, some of which are enjoyable and some of which are less so. Working with Larry was always fun, even when it wasn’t. A handful of colleagues and I have been meeting every other week for several years to talk about what we teach and how. Ever the engineer, Larry, created a multi-page spreadsheet to track what we needed to include in our conversations. He did this unbidden after he and I talked about how to organize ourselves more efficiently. “Sure, I’ll help!”
Three years ago, several of us were working on the Skillful Touch Handbook (2022, published by DIRI). We realized having photographs would be so useful for the students. Bethany and I mentioned this to Larry, and he pointed out that the two of them were going to be in Boulder, Colorado. We quickly scheduled a day with a photographer, using the two of them as practitioner models. “Sure, I’ll help!”
Early in the pandemic, DIRI wanted to create free video content for our community to keep us interested and engaged in our work. He adapted one of his workshops into a one-hour presentation called “Positional Strategies Using Gravity with Larry Koliha” at https://vimeo.com/471156162. This video is still available in the DIRI media library and includes free handouts. “Sure, I’ll help!”
“Sure, I’ll help!” he said with a smile and a laugh. Thanks, my friend. I miss you.
Neal Anderson is a Rolfing Instructor with the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute (DIRI), as well as being a Certified Advanced Rolfer and Rolf Movement Practitioner. He’s been in private practice since 2003. Anderson’s work has been deeply informed by ongoing study with DIRI’s Advanced Faculty, visceral manipulation, and craniosacral therapy. He currently practices in Loveland, Colorado
By Russell Stolzoff, Advanced Rolfing Instructor
Larry was a rare man. Whenever I saw him, he always seemed to be in a jovial mood without being ‘on’ as people who seem happy can sometimes be. I never had the feeling that Larry was concealing anything or forcing his good nature over some underlying struggle. He seemed comfortable in his skin. Larry also had a way of being completely complimentary towards others, in a way that made them feel seen and, in turn, made it easy to trust in his genuineness. I didn’t know Larry for a long time, and our interactions mostly consisted of work on committees for the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute, but this did amount to many meetings over several years. Larry was a consistent and grounded presence that I relied on at times to measure my own ideas and reactions. I could always trust Larry’s thoughts about things and I admired his demeanor when conflict was present.
The last time I saw Larry in person was for breakfast, shortly before he knew his cancer reoccurred. His daughter just happened to be a cook at my favorite breakfast spot in my town, and he was out for a visit. We took a nice walk afterward and talked about offering a workshop together. Sadly, that was not to be.
Even more sadly, Larry’s time came to an end before he and anyone who knew and loved him would agree was deserved. The day Larry died I was working when I heard the news. It stayed with me all day as I searched for a fitting way to mark the occasion. Larry and I had shared a few glasses of bourbon over the years and so I decided I needed to get some and have a drink in his honor, believing that Larry would approve of such a decision. A bottle of Angels’ Envy sounded good. So I went home and toasted Larry. I will always remember Larry Koliha for the kind, gentle, fun loving, and dedicated man he was. His memory will always be a blessing to me.
Russell Stolzoff first encountered Rolfing Structural Integration as a classroom client at the Rolf Institute in 1983. The energy and freedom it brought inspired him to train as a Rolfer. He completed his training in 1989 and his advanced certification in 1997. Stolzoff augmented his Rolfing training with studies in trauma via Somatic Experiencing® and in somatic developmental psychology at the Bodynamic Institute of Denmark. Stolzoff was a teaching assistant for Rolfing training in 2000, became a faculty member in 2002, and became part of the Advanced Training Faculty in 2017. He is actively involved in research, is a past Chair of the faculty’s Executive Education Committee, and is a past member of the Institute’s Board of Directors
Keywords
Larry Koliha; Dr. Ida Rolf Institute; Rolfing training; self-care; bodywork; breath; rib work; Rolfing faculty.
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